Blessings and Battle Scars: Lessons from the Book of Job

Yesterday, I just finished reading the Book of Job. Our church is reading through the Bible together chronologically, and I have to admit, I wasn’t looking forward to it. 

If you aren’t familiar with Job, it’s the story of a man who had it all–a great family, wealth, respect–and then God allowed him to lose everything. As you read you spend chapters hearing Job’s sorrow and confusion. He’s a godly man, so why is all this bad stuff happening to him? His friends and wife are no help at all–blaming him, jealous of him, and telling him to give up hope in God. 

It’s a lot, and it’s a lot to read during the dead of winter–a touch depressing, especially in the messy middle. It takes a long time to get to the part where God speaks, redeems, and restores. 

In the slogfest that is the middle of Job, I was wishing longingly to be reading Philippians (oh joy!), when it struck me that maybe what I was feeling was what I was supposed to be feeling. The middle of grief IS awful. In it, we DO have incorrect theology. When we’re hurting we tend to blame God and question His care for us. It’s hard to have hope when tragedy strikes hard and close to home, as well it ought to. 

I don’t want a glib theology of suffering. It’s tempting to rush through a dark night of the soul. We want to get to the sunshine and rainbows and roses. But something powerful happens when we don’t rush, when we feel all our feelings with God. 

Job 42:5 says, “I had heard reports about you [God], but now my eyes have seen you.”

Knowing God personally makes all the difference. Through his suffering and wrestling, Job got a hands-on, up-close view of God. He didn’t have religious words or posturing to hide behind anymore–he was honest and raw with God and in that state, God spoke to Job personally. 

Remember, at this point in history, there is no Scripture, no way beyond creation and personal one-on-one encounters (like God had with Cain, Enoch, and Noah) that God revealed Himself. In Job’s pain, he met God. 

To be real, there are parts of my story that I will always grieve and wrestle with God over.

• Why this?
• Why didn’t you step in?
• Why did you allow that pain?

I’m sure you feel the same way about parts of your life too. Life under the curse can be awful. 

But as I finished the book of Job this truth stood out to me: I don’t always understand God, but I can know Him. God redeems pain and brokenness, not often with the answers to our “Why?” questions, but with more of Himself. We get to see His wisdom, strength, knowledge, kindness, and care up close and in high definition. 

One of my favorite recent worship songs is “Wouldn’t It Be Like You” by Bryan and Katie Torwalt. I love all the parts of this song, but the bridge moves me to tears…

Help me be like Mary

Laid down, pouring out

I won’t miss You in a crowd

Cause I love Your voice

And I know the sound

Jesus if it’s You

On the water, in the cloud

I’ll be the first one to walk out

Cause I love Your voice

And I know the sound

I love His voice more and I know the sound of it clearer because of everything we have walked through together. Like Job, restoration and blessing don’t erase what I’ve lost. God is always good and always just even when it doesn’t feel like He is. The heartbreak and happiness coexist; and I know God better, our deeper intimacy a battle scar I wear with pride.